Global lake research is skewed toward economically and socially developed regions, overlooking remote areas. Enhancing resilience and fostering synergistic approaches could help redress these inequities.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Messager, M. L., Lehner, B., Grill, G., Nedeva, I. & Schmitt, O. Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach. Nat. Commun. 7, 13603 (2016).
Huang, S. X., Zhang, K., Lin, Q., Liu, J. B. & Shen, J. Abrupt ecological shifts of lakes during the Anthropocene. Earth Sci. Rev. 227, 103981 (2022).
Wang, J. D. et al. Recent global decline in endorheic basin water storages. Nat. Geosci. 11, 926–932 (2018).
Yao, F. F. et al. Satellites reveal widespread decline in global lake water storage. Science 380, 743–749 (2023).
Kraemer, B. M. et al. Climate change drives widespread shifts in lake thermal habitat. Nat. Clim. Change 11, 521–529 (2021).
Jane, S. F. et al. Widespread deoxygenation of temperate lakes. Nature 594, 66–70 (2021).
Vollmer, D. et al. A watershed moment for healthy watersheds. Nat. Sustain. 6, 233–235 (2023).
Obura, D. O. et al. Achieving a nature- and people-positive future. One Earth 6, 105–117 (2022).
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42307063, 42142047, U24A20614) and Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Project at Southwest United Graduate School (202302A0370015) for financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jiang, Q., Sun, Y., Jeppesen, E. et al. Persistent inequities in global lake science. Nat Rev Earth Environ 6, 629–631 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00722-6
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00722-6